Burning Bright
by Five-0Fanatic
Summary: There is a fire and Steve and Reaper run to the rescue. The title is a symbol for more than the fire ;


"Danny" Steve mumbled as he rolled over on the bed, he punched Danny's shoulder "Danny...go see what the dogs are barking at"

"No" Danny said, glaring through one eye at Steve's still sleeping form "Their your dogs. You go look" He felt Steve's hand pushing him off the bed and he relented.

Danny grumbled some more but threw his legs over the side of the bed and got up. Smiling, he pulled Steve's pillow out from under his head and threw it at him then walked downstairs.

"Asshole" Steve mumbled and Danny heard the pillow thump against the wall after Steve had thrown it.

Danny trotted downstairs and thought he smelt smoke but he must just be tired. He saw Reaper and Seal standing by the front door, all the hair on their backs raised and they were growling "Heel" Danny commanded sharply and Seal sat down immediately but Reaper still stood and growled at the door.

"Reaper heel!" Danny commanded and when Reaper still didn't listen, Danny yelled upstairs "Steve! Something is wrong with your dog, he won't listen to me!"

Steve came stumbling down the stairs, rubbing sleep from his eyes "Reaper" Reaper stopped growling and at least looked at him before pawing at the front door "Do you smell smoke Danny?" Steve asked, sniffing the air.

"I thought I did earlier. Why?" Danny asked, looking at Steve.

"I just caught a whiff of it earlier" Steve looked back to Reaper "I wonder what's gotten into him"

Reaper just continued to paw at the door "Maybe he has to use the bathroom" Danny suggested. Danny opened the front door and was assaulted with smoke and before he could say or do anything, Reaper darted out of the door and down the street.

"Fire! Danny there's a house on fire down the street!" Steve yelled before grabbing his phone off the charger and running outside. He dialed 911 "This is Lt. Commander McGarrett, Five-0! We need the fire department and paramedics on my street now!"

"They've been dispatched Commander" The woman said "They should be there momentarily"

Steve hung up and ran to the nearest person. It was an older woman, screaming. He grabbed her by the shoulders "Listen! Listen to me! Calm down and tell me what happened"

"I don't know I just woke up in the middle of the night and it was on fire! My husband went to our little girls room but he hasn't come back out yet!" She was sobbing and her face was covered with sweat and soot.

Steve looked at her and saw pain in her eyes and he saw Danny running down the street "Listen, that man coming is my partner. Tell him I went inside and stay with him no matter what! You hear me?" she nodded at him and he asked "Did you see a dog come running through here by chance? A big Rottweiler"

She nodded again "He ran in the house before I could stop him" Steve cursed silently and gave her a reassuring smile before running into the house.

Danny saw Steve leave the woman and run into the burning house "Steve! No!"

The woman ran up and grabbed his arm yanking him back "No wait! He ran in to rescue my daughter and husband! He said to tell you and to stay out here with you"

Danny smiled sadly "That's Steve. Just running in without thinking. If he dies, I'm gonna kill him"

The smoke inside the house was so thick, Steve could barely see and he dropped to the floor to avoid choking before he could find the husband and daughter, he started coughing violently and when he could speak he yelled out "Reaper! Hello? Is there anyone in here?"

He heard Reaper barking and crawled slowly through the house, bumping into furniture. He felt the flames becoming more intense the longer he stayed in the house. He made it to the stairs and saw Reaper at the top pulling a bundle by the shirt collar. Steve ran up the stairs keeping his head down and his mouth and nose tucked into his shirt, not that it did much because the smoke was quickly becoming too much. Steve got to Reaper and saw blood streaming out of his nose. They needed to get out of here and quick.

Steve saw the bundle at their feet was the man and he quickly checked his pulse, he was alive but blood was seeping down his face where something must have fallen and knocked him out. Steve turned the man around and slid him down the stairs on his back, wincing when he heard a thud as the man hit the bottom. "Good Dog" Steve patted Reapers head and pushed him towards the stairs, when he saw Reaper make it to the bottom and begin dragging the man out, Steve dropped to his knees again crawling down the hall, looking for the little girls room.

"Sweetheart! Im here to help but I need you to say something or make noise so I can find you!" Steve yelled and started coughing and crying as he inhaled smoke. He heard a crashing noise and saw the floor at the other end of the hallway give out and become consumed with bright orange flames "Honey! I need you to say something!"

Steve began searching every room frantically, then he heard screaming from the room across the hall. He crawled in, and saw purple walls with butterflies on it and he saw a small little figure huddled in the corner with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. He rushed over to her and checked to make sure she wasn't injured. He brushed her hair out her face and encountered big brown eyes "Hey, I'm Steve. I'm gonna get you out of here and to your mom ok? It's gonna be alright"

Steve picked the little girl up and almost stumbled "Fuck" his movements were getting slow and breathing was getting harder. He shook his head and forced himself to focus "Ok listen to me, keep the blanket around your mouth and nose and keep your face here in my shoulder" Steve felt her bury her face in his shoulder and he walked out of her room.

Danny was on the verge of panicking. Steve had been in there over 10 minutes and there was no sign of him or Reaper yet, and the flames were slowly engulfing the house. Danny saw a figure come through the smoke dragging something and he ran towards it. It was Reaper, pulling a man who wasn't Steve.

Danny slid his hands under the mans arms and hauled him backwards, and watched as Reaper collapsed on the ground. A 150 pound dog pulling a 200 something pound man wasn't good, Reaper had to be running on sheer willpower at this point Danny thought. The woman ran up screaming and crying, begging that he still be alive. Danny checked his pulse and it was there, slow but there was one. The medics came and relieved Danny of the man and women, carting them off towards an waiting ambulance. He turned and ran back to Reaper, gently, he picked the dog up and noticed the blood streaming out of his nose and he smelled like straight smoke and fire. If Steve didn't come out soon, Danny was going in after him.

"Ok hang on sweetheart here we go" Steve said, hanging onto the little girl as he crawled down the hallway. It was hard going, crawling with one hand while holding her with the other. But they made it to the stairs and Steve, using the wall for support, he stood up and began taking the stairs one at a time. Suddenly, a violent coughing fit seized him and he tried to keep going as his body was racked with coughing and tears began spilling down his face. Steve pressed their bodies to the wall as the fire began consuming the stairs on the opposite side of them. He heard a crumbling noise and looked up just as part of the roof crumbled, he wrapped his body around the little girl protecting her from loose bits and he bit the inside of his cheek when he felt a piece fiery wood hit his shoulder and send searing pain through it.

Steve felt the skin basically fall off his shoulder from where the wood had struck him and it was screaming with pain, the smoke was getting to him and he kept wavering in and out of consciousness. The little girls crying into his shoulder forced him to stay awake and stumble the rest of the way down the slowly disintegrating stairs. Crawling was no longer an option because his burnt shoulder wouldn't be able to support him, so he ducked his head into the blanket, sucked in as much air as he could and looked back up. He could vaguely make out the front door and he couldn't hear anything above the roar and crackling of the fire. He stumbled towards the front and burst out it into the night, where he saw ambulances, fire trucks and the sky. He fell on the front lawn still clutching the little girl, gasping for air trying to suck in as much as possible. The last thing he remembers is a fireman standing over him, yelling before he blacked out.

When Steve woke up, he heard someone talking beside him and he thought it was Danny "I don't know Kono. The doctor said he could be pretty out of it for the day"

Steve tried to say something but all that managed to come out was a raspy, croaking sound "Danny" He saw blue eyes turn towards him widen, then Danny rushed to his side.

"Shh..babe don't talk. You inhaled a lot of smoke and did a pretty good number on your lungs, so just try not to talk" Danny said, wrapping one hand around Steve's and using the other to trail through his singed hair.

Steve's throat hurt like a bitch but he needed to know what happened and he needed water "What happened?" he barely managed to choke out, then began coughing and pointing to water.

Danny poured a little bit into a cup and handed it to him "I'll explain.. don't drink too much it will make you sick again" Steve nodded gently and drank the entire cup before sputtering and coughing again. He tried to move his arm but cried out when pain lanced through his shoulder.

"Steve! Don't move. Stop moving, stop talking" Danny shouted, grabbing his arm and laying it gently back down "Let me explain everything first. You managed to save the little girl and Reaper saved the dad" Steve's eyebrows shot up at the mention of Reaper and before he could ask, Danny held his hand up "Reapers at the vet. Like you, he inhaled a lot of smoke but he's fine, you on the other hand are not fine. You have a 2nd degree burn on your shoulder where the wood hit you, it pretty much melted all the skin off your shoulder and that's why the bandage was light. They grafted donor skin onto it and its gonna heal nicely they said but it will be awhile, which means no swimming. You also scraped your feet up pretty good. What were you thinking running into a burning house with no gear and barefoot?" Danny asked, waving his hands over Steve's body.

Steve opened his mouth to reply but Danny held his hand up again "I know what you were thinking and it was just like you, brave and fearless. I just wish you would have though it out a little more. Maybe a plan. I know the word plan isn't in Steve SuperSEAL McGarrett-Williams vocabulary but it wouldn't hurt!" Danny yelled.

Steve just smiled but it faltered when a cough racked his body, when he finally got his body under his own control again, he drank some more water, then whispered "I'd do it again in a heartbeat"

Danny sighed and leaned forward to kiss Steve's forehead "I know you would. That's why I love you"


End file.
